Over the years I have begrudgingly curbed my relationship with ramen as MSG induced hangovers were not meshing well with my aging body. However, about 2 years ago I attained a foodie’s enlightenment from heaven–ramen graduated from the “5 for a dollar” late night regret that I once knew into a mom-approved, grown up companion of steamy goodness.

So, when the Kimchi Belles offered this Thai Beau a chance to go chow down on ramen for free and write about it, I did what any secret ramen lover would do… kindly ask his wife (a.k.a – baby mama) for permission with hopes their newborn child hadn’t been fussy all day. Whew–success for all.

Makan, is a much needed Asian addition to the foodie scene located in Decatur town square. (Check out Kimchi Belles’ earlier write-up from Makan’s opening here.) The event brought together 7 amazing local chefs to stretch their creative culinary noodles along with donating all proceeds to The Giving Kitchen, a nonprofit that provides crisis grants to those in the restaurant community.

The night began with me arriving promptly at 8pm and seeing a line literally out the door. Ramen Fest sold out and the restaurant was at max capacity for the evening.

The place was packed with late 20 to 30 somethings eager to fill their bellies and social feeds with delicious noodles and savory broth.

There were human chains formed at every corner of the restaurant as everyone played musical chairs, moving from one line to the next with a bowl of ramen in tow hoping to get to all 8 ramen stations.

Unfortunately for me, 3 out of 8 ramen stations were slurped dry and my ramen fest came to a screeching halt. From what I did get to try, I enjoyed St Cecilia’s Italian ramen the most because it was very creative and the ingredients complimented one another so well. Nonetheless, there are plans in the making for a bigger and better #AtlRamenFest 2. Until then, you can feast your eyes on the early spoils of the night captured by Creative Loafing’s Brad Kaplan as he put together an amazing collage of all 8 ramen bowls.

Thank you, Kimchi Belles for affording me the chance to reignite my Xanga blogger skills from college days past. I found myself typing away into the wee hours of the morning as my wife and newborn daughter slept away. So, we will see where my inner blogger goes from here. For now, I will leave you with a throw back photo of Sue (and John!), circa 2004.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find one for Jin, so I’ll keep searching my archives to embarrass highlight her next time. Thanks, Kimchi Belles!

Every so often in buck wild rebellion of the schedule/commitments I am a slave to, I say “yes” to a random, spontaneous, drop-dead-last-minute event if it can be feasibly (though, maybe not sanely) squeezed in.

And so, a few weeks ago, on the same day that I returned from a 3 day trip to Savannah, I took off for an overnight to Greenville, SC: Indie Craft Parade VIP Gala! I know–what a wild, wild, craft lovin’ woman I am.

For a hot minute, it was utter crazy town sending home our lovely babysitter (Thanks, Aunt B!), picking up a child from the bus stop, racing over to husband’s office, situating children in the lobby with husband’s kind and responsible staff while he wrapped up a presentation, taking off for Greenville in the thick of rush hour traffic, and waiting outside of a locked building to pick up tickets to our event. Breathe!

And then of course, there was the one that got away. *tears* Alas, I just didn’t think I had it in me to take care of another living being…

After running around like a woman possessed (like increased heart rate, insane giggling, possessed), the lovely Julie Dodds of Willow Florals and fellow wifie to an Iron Yard partner graciously hosted a gal pal after gala party (fatigue, what?)! Whereby, ATL Sarah and I got to laugh til our bellies ached with some of Greenville’s most fresh and so sassy creative ladies!

Oh, hey there Mason, how did you get in that flower patch? Can I please say you and Katie are crazy special. Was I not exactly the “Blue Guy” painting that you bought (pictured above!)? And you were both like, “Hey, hey. It’ll be alright. We’ll have meaningful conversations with you. I promise your eye will stop twitching if we talk about happy cows and pigs; good human beings, and pink cake!

Le sigh. Thank you, Sarah, for inviting me to such a fun get away and for being the very best of dates! Thank you, The Iron Yard family, for the tickets and for being quality. Finally, thank you, Greenville, for showing us ATL girls a grand time!

Atlantans: feeling the need to get your own fix of all things hand crafty? Check out the ICE Atlanta Holiday Market coming up on November 22-23 at the Georgia Freight Depot!

I’ve been in denial but I can’t avoid reality anymore – my sweet baby Amelia is no longer a newborn but an active, curious, infant. *Sob* Now that she’s 9 ½ month old, she insists on pulling herself up on everything and is already attempting to walk, much to this mama’s dismay. Diaper changes are nearly impossible because of her constantly squirming mass and I stopped trying to put pants on her weeks ago. Who needs pants anyway?

And as the Korean tradition goes, I have the duty of planning her first birthday party celebration. First birthdays are a huge milestone for any culture, but for the Korean culture especially, first birthdays often blow up to epic proportions and have a mind of their own. It’s a very special birthday in the Korean culture called the Doljanchi (돌잔치) or simply, Dol. And being the awesome mother I am, I haven’t planned anything yet. Perhaps this is because I might have gone a bit over the top with Isaiah’s Dol. Needless to say, I won’t be doing all that again. Amelia’s will be much smaller and without as much fanfare – but goshdarnit, she will have cake! (If not just to smash.)

The most affordable scenario would be to host a Dol at our house; however, our house is neither big enough or nice enough to host a super large party and honestly, I don’t want to clean all that much. So I am going the route of finding an outside venue to host Amelia’s Dol. Since I am going through the Dol planning process myself, I thought it would be helpful to list some popular Dol venues in the Atlanta area for all you future Dol planners (who like me, do not want to go through the work of hosting at home). And if not for a Dol, these venues make for great private parties/events, whatever your occasion may be.

I’ve been to a Dol on a farm and restaurants like Fleming’s and even heard of one being held at the Mandarin Hotel. This just proves that your Dol can be as unique or varied as you want it to be! The above list is simply a starting point and have successfully hosted many Dols. Being in the south, there are tons of country clubs, churches, community centers, and club houses that rent out their facilities for private events. And we can’t forget all the Atlanta restaurants with private dining options. (I found this list to be particularly useful.)

For additional Dol planning resources, might I recommend the following:

Since Sue and I hail from Augusta, Georgia, we can’t NOT give Augusta a shout out for their annual week of fame: glorious Masters week. To be frank, I know very little about the Masters Golf Tournament. The reasons are as follows: 1) I have only been once, 2) it’s hard to get tickets, and 3) I dislike golf. Not only do I think golf is boring and an awkward sport to play, but it seriously takes forever to play 18-holes. WHO HAS TIME THAT MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS? Oh, turns out a lot of people, my parents included. My parents are avid golfers and used to play 2-3 times a week (before moving back to Korea). My dad was most disappointed that I never caught on to the sport and quickly gave up pressuring me to learn when he realized my only interest was in driving the golf cart. Perhaps I would take more interest in the sport if all the players looked like Adam Scott, but alas, most do not. The year that I did actually go to the tournament (2000?), I was close enough to Tiger Woods to see the pimple on his face — but even his presence did not inspire me. I was more preoccupied with finding shade and griping about all the walking I was having to endure. Misery.

Did you know?

The tournament was initially called “Augusta National Invitation Tournament” until 1939 when it was changed to the Masters Tournament. Co-founder Bobby Jones initially found the name Masters too presumptuous.

The Augusta National Golf Club was built on the former Fruitland Nurseries and each hole is named after flowers and trees.

The Masters started in 1934 and has been played every year since except for 1943-1945 because of World War II. The course was given over to grazing cows to support the war effort.

The first international player to win the Masters was in 1961 by Gary Player, who hails from South Africa. He also won 2 more green jackets in 1974 and 1978 and also holds the record for playing the most Masters tournaments at 52 starts.

Masters winners only get to keep the coveted green jacket in their possession for one year until they have to return it to the club. After that, they get to wear their jacket upon visiting Augusta National at any point thereafter. Reoccurring winners use the same green jacket each time — unless it no longer fits!

Condoleeza Rice and Darla Moore became the first two women members of the Augusta National Golf Club on August 20, 2012. Prior to this date, women were not allowed to be members.